Panasonic Developing 'VR Goggles'

Tadashi Nakamichi

The VR goggles exhibited by Panasonic

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The VR goggles and an omnidirectional camera

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Panasonic Corp is developing "VR (virtual reality) goggles" and exhibited a prototype at a private view (for the press) of "Wonder Japan Solutions," a private show that the company has from Feb 12 to 14, 2015, in Ariake, Tokyo.

VR goggles are a headset for enjoying virtual reality. The prototype covers a whole field of view and shows an omnidirectional image in accordance with movements of the head. Oculus VR LLC's "Oculus Rift" and Sony Computer Entertainment Inc's "Project Morpheus" are famous VR goggles.

The prototype exhibited by Panasonic uses an OLED panel for its display and can realize a viewing angle of 90° and a frame rate of up to 75fps.

"The VR goggles can be hooked on ears like glasses so that they can be more easily worn than Oculus Rift," Panasonic said.

I use glasses. And when I wore the goggles, they did not make me feel uncomfortable.

This time, Panasonic also showed an omnidirectional camera equipped with seven image sensors. The camera is aimed at the Tokyo Olympic Games in 2020 and can be used for seeing a long jumper from a desired viewpoint, the company said.

Panasonic made the prototype for the private show and has not yet decided to commercialize it.